Masonry Magazine January 1980 Page. 15
Architect: L. M. Pei and Partners
General Contractor: Tompkins Construction Co.
Stone Contractor: Atlas Tile & Marble Works, Inc.
Mason Contractor: John B. Kelly, Inc.
The magnificent National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is viewed here from the northwest, showing the Fourth Street entrance and the U.S. Capitol. The entrance leads to the central courtyard, the main orientation space leading to galleries for the collections and special temporary exhibitions. The courtyard is roofed with a faceted space frame skylight spanning 16,000 sq. ft., from which an Alexander Calder mobile-three stories high and 76 ft. across is suspended.
Peerless example of something many people thought was long dead-craftsmanship in construction.
The East Building is a blend of the very old and the very new. Hidden behind the smooth marble walls is a unique, entirely new construction system invented especially to meet the building's unusual challenges. But the surfaces surrounding the visitor-the walls, floors, stairs, ceilings-reflect the kind of care and skill associated with generations past.
View from the southeast of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts. The Study Center will house approximately 2 million photographs and 300,000 books in addition to curatorial and administrative offices for Gallery staff and study facilities for visiting scholars.
MASONRY/JANUARY, 1980 15